Champ188

Post is titled Big M to mouth of KIngs

I doubt that guy has a clue how much bass fishermen spend on boats and trucks and rods/reels and line and lures and eats and --- oh yeah, LODGING.

As long as your rod tip is close to the water, you should be getting max depth. And at this point I'm gonna back out of this because there's no way a conversation about jerking and rods and guys, etc. is going anywhere good.

Priceless.

Crappie5, others may be able to answer firsthand but it should almost certainly be cleared up by now.

QB, this is a community issue and like KVD told Iaconelli when he infringed on his water last summer, "You are not part of the community." Why? Because you run a Brand X boat. However, if you're nice to me, I might call Johnny on his cell and see if I can get him to let you buy online at in-store only prices. After all, being a Ranger owner, I'm part of the "family" now. Of course, he might make you sign an affidavit to buy a Nitro next time around. And wear a jersey.

Just a little food for thought here ... if your boat situation allows you to point the rod tip pretty much straight down at the water and to jerk (actually, I prefer the word twitch) back toward your feet, you will keep your bait deeper. Jerking sideways creates an upward pull on the bait, keeping it from reaching its maximum depth.

First thing I would do is buy a couple of any color and send them to Tim Hughes (you can PM him on here at the nickname Hughesy) or Rob McGilvrey at Fall Creek Custom Lures and have them paint them the original old V37 color (brown crawdad). Rapala messed up the paint jobs on these several years ago to where the brown sides are chalky looking. Hughes or McGilvrey can paint them right and you'll catch a world of fish on them. The best Wart fisherman I know throws this color 80% of the time. Hughes recently created some custom colors for Bass Pro Shops and one that really intrigues me is the phantom brown orange craw (V165). MOhawghunter (above) gave some really good suggestions, although I believe he meant V37 (not V47) brown craw, which is the color I suggested that you get repainted, A couple of other suggestions --- don't be afraid to throw the V210 watermelon seed on a dark cloudy day, even in clear water. Sometimes those brown fish will just chomp it, and so will the K's and LM. Beyond that, if you get up the Kings or James rivers and they are dingy to even muddy, the V45 brown scale craw can be killer. Hope this helps and welcome to the area.

Well, by gosh, that settles everything! LOL

Hey Dave, just how many hair jigs can a guy tie from a 40-pound groundhog?

That's what I was thinking. Unless you need the refund to get a replacement, I'd hang onto it. That's quite a deal you got. Sounds like a potential small topwater/small-to-med crank bait rod to me. Might make a good Wiggle Wart rod.

Very good point, Z22. But you have to show an interest. Guiding back home in the Hot Springs, AR area, I had different types of clients. Some were eager to learn and pelted me with questions the entire trip. Loved it. Any guide who doesn't enjoy talking fishing tactics with his clients needs to find another career. I'm a pretty quiet fellow in-person but I'll yap your ear off for days on end about fishing. Others were strictly there to catch as many fish as they could in the allotted time and didn't care to learn anything about it, leaving that to the guide. They just wanted to reel 'em in. Not a thing wrong with that. Finally, there were those who didn't really care if they caught a bunch and didn't want to learn anything about it. Mostly there to see the eagles, deer, etc. and breathe the fresh air. Certainly nothing wrong with that. The point is, the guide doesn't want to bore clients with a bunch of unsolicited advice/info about fishing. So let him know early on in the trip that you're there to learn and even what in particular you're hoping to learn. If you are on the first day of a weeklong trip, let him know that and he's liable to structure the trip in a way to show you several different methods of catching fish during your stay so that you can succeed under whatever weather conditions you might have. There is always a way to catch fish. Always. Finally, don't just learn from what he says. Watch his every move and drink it in. Look closely at the way he rigs his baits. Watch how he thinks his way through the day. If you don't know why he just moved from a steep bluff end to a shallow gravel point, ask. Didn't mean to preach a sermon here. Just trying to help folks get all they can out of their guide trips.

Awesome to relive stuff like that. Far better than bickering about stuff that don't make a hill of beans. Bill, I believe you are right about everything on that Central tournament. I remember being in the boat so darn sick I could hardly sit up. Was running 102 or better temp and determined to fish. Not sure that Donna didn't catch every fish we had that day. That's the time of year she usually really shines with her jig. Trophy, does your wife fish anymore or did she just hang it up after that day?

Trophy, were you two fishing with Babler when she caught those? I remember him having a couple with him a few years back where the wife just wrecked the big brown fish.

Huh? They fiddled with Ma's Place? Have not been to Kimberling City in quite awhile, obviously. What's the deal?

Exactly right there, Cody. I do not guide currently so I'm speaking objectively when I say that I don't understand why more people don't save themselves hundreds of fishless hours and hire one of the expert guides around here for 4, 6 or 8 hours. The amount of time, money and frustration they would SAVE over time would make it one of the best fishing investments they ever made.

Hey carpel, I just wonder if 7-0 isn't going to be a bit long for a jerkbait rod. You really need to work a jerkbait with your rod pointed at the water, and even at 6-foot-4, I don't believe I could manage that with a 7-footer. I use a 6-6 medium power/fast action --- I actually have two ... a Duckett Micro Magic and a Shimano Compre. If you want to go top-of-the-line, the Falcon Cara McClelland Series jerkbait rod is as good as it gets. Length on it is 6-8. Price is right at $250. The 6-6 med/fast Duckett rod that I spoke of earlier will run you about $150 and is a very fine rod in my opinion. Hope this helps.

JER-SEYS! JER-SEYS! JER-SEYS!!! Hey, in your search for those, please make sure you find a company that has them in 5XLT. Takes a lot of cloth to cover everything that needs to be covered on me! Besides, the bigger the jersey, the more logos I can splash on there of companies that I may or may not actually be sponsored by. All kidding aside, I also recently bought some heads from Super Dave (or is it Disco Dave?) and could've sworn he drove them down to Arkansas himself. Great product from an even better guy. Breakfast at Ma's Place someday soon, Dave.

You'll enjoy that greatly, Cody. Fished Central Pro-Am against Pete for several years and enjoyed getting to know him. Good guy and a great fisherman/guide. Hope you guys knock em dead.

Hard to say, gitnby. They're fish and they do fishy things. But I wouldn't go overboard with looking for them shallow. Water temp most likely is taking a hit right now with lower teens last night and a high of no more than 40 today. I'd start looking in that 15-20 foot range and probably wouldn't venture too far into any pockets or creeks. However, to contradict myself, Donna and I have noticed what seems like a slow migration of fish in the White (Shell Knob downlake to Big Creek) to prespawn staging areas in the front part of the bigger creeks. Seems a bit early for that but it's been a mild winter so far.

I'm with ya, gitnby. Time for the shorts and Jerusalem cruisers. Gotta start tanning my toes.

Hopefully, Mr. Babler will weigh in. He knows tackle as well as anyone, including the light stuff. If he doesn't post a reply soon, you might try PM-ing him or emailing him at the link he puts at the bottom of his signature on each post.

Thanks, Grumpy. I believe that's the Lazy Eagle and it's one we intend to look into. We haven't actually driven into there to look at the parking/plug-ins but it would certainly be pretty close to Big M.

Actually, I've hardly picked up a bass rod since Thanksgiving with more than 8-pound line on it or that was heavier than medium power. Been throwing more 6-pound than anything. Don't have the slightest thing against lighter tackle. Enjoy it.

Me and you both, Ham. But I also know there was once a time when I said I'd never throw a jerkbait (that was years ago before I quit drinking), a drop shot or a Ned rig. Acknowledging that all of those have come to pass, I'm not gonna cross the line of saying NEVER to those swimbaits. But at least I can say NOT YET.